little house life of fear
by Merri Hasch
Summary: Caroline ends up in the hospital instead of Mary its a twist of To Live with Fear episode of season three. Charles even finds a different occupation that he has never done before in order to help pay the medical bills.


Little house life of fear (Chapter one):

Caroline had to do the work by herself manage the horses and plow the fields. Charles was a way making all kinds of extra deliveries for the mill this month. Caroline was almost whipped from working and doing her work too. There was nothing much going on with the girls in school and all, they have been saddled with a lot of home work too for their final exams coming up, and so they are limited on how much help Caroline can get out of them.

One day Mr. Edwards came over to help which was good gave Caroline a break from working in the fields. Caroline was trying to halter break a colt of Charles's that wasn't getting trained very fast to be sold for the market. Usually Laura is the one who helps Pa with these chores but since their doing extra school works these days Caroline thought she give them an extra hand.

Everything was going good until Jack the dog came inside the barn to start barking at the colt. Caroline didn't get too excited about it at first since she knew that Mary said Jack was being weird around these horses lately. Jack kept barking and agitating the colt. Caroline held on and tried to talk in a soothing voice for the youngster, but he kept jerking on the lead and pulling against the halter.

The finally the unthinkable happens Jack ran right into the stall to push the colt over the edge the halter broke on him and he reared up striking out his front hooves, hitting Caroline in the stomach hard knocking her over the fence, she let out a scream and a groan. The colt Barrels out of the stable, once Caroline had made her tumble to the other side of the floor. Finally the colt was about to tear out of the Ingalls barn but Mr. Edwards with his quick thinking caught the colt in midflight. It was a struggle though for him to do it, for the colt was scared out of his mind in flight mode. Mr. Edwards got the colt back into the outside corral where he can run and be nuts all he wanted to. After Mr. Edwards had caught his breath he went back into the barn to check on Caroline for he heard her screech and scream a little when she got knocked down by the colt.

Mr. Edwards makes sure all gates are locked good and tight on the corral and then he runs to the barn to check on Caroline. Once he finally gets there he sees her lying there in a hump with her clothes rumpled up, and she is not saying anything. Isaiah says "Caroline?" he waits a few seconds for some answers. She doesn't say anything. Isaiah moves in and slowly picks Caroline's head up in his hands and waits as she starts to opens her eyes, then gasp for breath. Finally Isaiah gets to help her stand up, he asks her "Are you okay Caroline? What happened?"

Caroline takes a moment to catch her breath, and then she says "Yeah I think I am okay, I think the colt knocked the wind out of me". Isaiah sighs a well meant sigh of relief to say "Well, you need to go in the house rest up a bit, before doing any more work okay?" Caroline nods in agreement. Isaiah stands out of her way so she can start walking to the house. Isaiah then turns to the broken boards that once were a part of the colt's stall; he says with a sigh of discontent, "A man's work is never done! Maybe I should charge Charles double for carpentry work!" With that Isaiah had begun working on the walls of the stall to get them repaired.

Inside the house Caroline had changed her dress once again to a cleaner one with an apron on besides. She checks out her body only to find a few bruises here and there nothing was majorly broken which she was thankful for. She found it stiff for her to move a certain way so she just went a little slower and didn't say anything to cause alarm.

Finally super was ready but late that day. Isaiah came in the house to check on Caroline once more, and to see Laura. Isaiah came in sat down at the table, when Mary came down and Laura with Carrie everyone sat to say grace, and then they ate. Caroline says while eating "Gosh that colt almost knocked me out to next week!" Isaiah says as he sips his tea "Glad nothing serious happened there Caroline the girls and I be lost without you!" Caroline smiles and says "I'm sure it won't get that bad, besides Charles will be back by tomorrow". Mary and Laura clapped their hands for they were glad when Pa came home because sometimes they got presents when he came back. Finally supper was over, Mary and Laura helped with the dishes, putting Carrie to bed. Mr. Edwards went to the barn to work with the colt some more and to sleep in his bunk.

…

Finally the day came when Charles made it home. Laura and Mary didn't get to see Pa yet because they were already in school for the day. Charles came home early to surprise Caroline with a bunch of presents from the big city of Kansas and it worked. Charles hugs Caroline when he gets off the buck board, but she grimaces a little. Charles asks "What dear, did I hug you too tight?" Caroline says in a little white fib, "No, dear, I just got the wind knocked out of me the other day by trying to halter break the colt, Jack the dog came in and caused all kinds of problems, thank goodness for Mr. Edwards being around that day!" Charles says "See, I told you Mr. Edwards is a pretty good guy once you give him a chance!" Caroline blushes at Charles comment, as she says "Yeah I guess so, but I don't approve of him teaching Laura how to spit! She's supposed to be a lady you know!" Charles laughs and says "I don't think we got anything to worry about dear!"

Once in the house Caroline notices a sharp pain starting in her side, and when Charles came in to unload all the presents he got everyone, he noticed Caroline not doing so good. Charles got done setting his box of presents and supplies down; he asks "We need doctor baker dear?" Caroline shakes her head "No, I am just having a muscle spasm I'm fine". Charles makes the comment, "Regardless dear, you need to see doctor Baker to be sure, comes on let's go, where is Carrie?"

Caroline says "Mr. Edwards took Carrie with him out hunting for berries or something, Caroline says as she tries to catch her breath". Charles finally gets Caroline convinced "Dear come on let's go see doctor baker it won't take long". Caroline finally nods yes as she notices slowly the pain is not going easily away like it did the other time. Charles helps Caroline into the buck board after he shuts the house up, and he takes her over for a quick check up.

…

At the doctor's Charles stops the team and helps Caroline climb down off the buck board ever so slowly. The pain on her was greater now, and more consistent, she was even looking a little paler than usual. Charles says to her, "Come on dear, this isn't looking so good for you". Caroline says "I'm doing the best I can Charles!" Finally after much effort they both made it into to see Doctor Baker. After a complete exam, Doctor Baker came out to talk to Charles and he didn't have good news.

"Charles?" Doctor Baker starts off, "Well, I think Caroline has an infection going on inside of her intestines, and she needs to go to a specialized hospital for immediate care soon". Charles looks stunned, he said "Now? I mean you can't do anything more for her here?" Doctor Baker shakes his head grimly, and calmly explains, "No sir, you need a doctor with more medical knowledge than me to tackle this problem". Charles sighs, and says "How soon must we leave?" Doctor Baker says gently but with authority "Now, the sooner the better, no lingering around, make plans if need be, and then leave, I can keep her here under my watchful eye while you go make those plans if you don't mind?" Charles says "Yes, that is a good idea, can I see Caroline for a little bit?" Doctor Baker smiles and says "Sure Not for long though I gave her something to help her sleep through the pain". Charles nods.

He walks to the back of the doctor's office where Caroline was resting. He never seen Caroline down and out before the image nearly made him fall to the ground. He sat down next to the examination table where Caroline was laying on, and she woke up to see him.

Caroline says "We have to go to the hospital dear, did Doctor Baker tell you?" Charles quietly says "Yes, he told me, you may need a lot of care there dear, might take money I may need to go find extra work". Caroline sighs painfully but she managed a sigh, she says in a weak voice, "Just when we thought we were getting ahead a little". "Now this hospital is going to be nuts on cost!" Charles says "Don't worry about that now dear, you just worry about getting better, I hate to leave you but have to go make arrangements for Mary, Laura, Carrie, maybe the can stay with the Edwards for a while?" Caroline nods, as she swallows, her eyes hardly opened now, Charles knows she was drifting back to sleep, Charles bends over to give a quick peck on her hot feverish forehead, and stood there in a stunned silence of how sick she was.

Charles head on out of Doctor Baker's office to get some different living arrangements for the girls and then make a few stops to get some money out of the bank before they go. While Caroline get there in time? (To Be Continued).


End file.
